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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24313984">The Deep End</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelukahDo/pseuds/DelukahDo'>DelukahDo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cats - Andrew Lloyd Webber</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Beach House, Fluff, Human AU, Light-Hearted, M/M, Short, alcohol use, demebombastrap, minor language, poly ship, tuggoffelees - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:01:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,888</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24313984</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelukahDo/pseuds/DelukahDo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Rum Tum Tugger and Munkustrap have been inviting their friends up to their beach house every summer. This summer is no exception, but this time may be slightly different on account of one of the invites being extended to the delightful Mistoffelees, who happens to be Tugger's long time crush.</p><p> </p><p>This is going to be pretty short, maybe a chapter for each day of the long weekend, lot's of fluff and a happy ending in store!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mr. Mistoffelees/Rum Tum Tugger (Cats), Quaxo/Rum Tum Tugger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. I'll race you?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Some of Tugger’s fondest memories had been made down in the coastal town of Victoria Grove. His family had been going down to their beach house every summer since before he could even remember. In fact, photos of his mother bobbing him gently in the waves just as he was learning to walk still clung to the walls of their family home, and to his heart. The photos were from many memories in the beach house, showing the growth of him and his brother over the years. A five year old Munkustrap holding up a crab and a two-and-a-half year old Tugger hugging their mother tight in an attempt to protect himself from the imminent threat. Respective nine and seven-year-old Munkustrap and Tugger trying to get action shots of them throwing water over their unsuspecting sunbathing mother. The pictures were a history book of lost vacations, all the way to the point where their mother had stopped appearing in them altogether.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Grizabella’s untimely leave didn’t stop the boys and their dad from continuing on the tradition, and so they added to the picture pile, with the young boys and their arms around each other watching the sky go dark. It wasn’t long before a fifteen-year-old Bombalurina started appearing in the pictures next to them, joining in on the ocean shenanigans, seventeen-year-old Alonzo not too far behind. Senior year of high school for Munkustrap was the first year that Earl Deuteronomy let his sons go alone with their friends for a long weekend, and they’d have their family vacation later in the summer. So a new tradition was founded, and what started with just the four kids grew to groups of around ten easily every year. Junior year of college for Tugger and first year of grad school for Munk would be no different. Munkustrap had already started making the list.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure about Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer? I don’t want a repeat of last year.” Munkustrap was hunched over his little notepad at the dining table, repeatedly blowing a loose strand of hair out of his eyes. His hair was dead straight and deep brown, and Tugger swore it was already greying, but Munkustrap quickly hushed him about that whenever he brought it up. Munk took after their dad when it came to hair, but Tugger took after their mom. His was bright and honeyed, with streaks of wild blonde and brown mixed into each other almost like it was planned. He let the soft curls grow down to his shoulders, and then usually pulled it back into a low ponytail, letting the thick of his bangs frame his face. A lot of people asked him whether or not he dyed it, but he never had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re fucking funny though,” he responded, opening the fridge for the second time in a five minute period, then closing it again like some kind of hard to control Sim. He heard a small sigh coming from the table and then the sound of pencil on paper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, so that’s me, you, Bomba, Lonz, Deme, Jerrie, and Teazer,” he read the list out loud. “I texted Jemima and she’s busy this year, but she said last year was a blast and she definitely wants to do it again if we plan a second trip.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tugger leaned against the kitchen counter. “We have all summer, wouldn’t be the first time we invited friends up again, except dad would be there,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but dad’s fun.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jemima would like him,” Tugger had to admit. Jemima was a cherry tart, and their dad would’ve eaten that shit right up. Earl Deuteronomy was one of those dads that became the dad of any kid in a three mile radius. He was quick to make the house a safe space for Bombalurina when her parents were fighting, and she had been forever grateful for it. In the middle of his thought, Tugger’s ass buzzed. He reached into his back pocket to check his phone and couldn’t help but smile when he saw it. It gave him an idea. “Hey, what if we invited Mistoffelees?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Munkustrap turned his head to face Tugger with the most mischievous grin on his face. “Mistoffelees?” He raised his eyebrows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tugger had quickly hidden his smile and his phone when he saw Munk turning around; his face was blank. “And Victoria. You know, we all got pretty close with them both this year.” It was true; in fact, Munkustrap was surprised they hadn’t met them sooner. They were cousins, and they both went to the same college that the rest of the group went to. The school was big enough that you could meet new people if you changed your regular route to class, and it just so happened that no one had really had a run in with the cousins until last fall semester. Victoria went on a frantic spell of trying new things since her life was “too boring”, apparently, and that’s how they ended up at improv club, where they consequently met quite literally everyone. Then Jerrie and Teazer piped up to say they recognized Mistoffelees from the slacklining club, and the group hit it off from there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Victoria and Mistoffelees had been to every party, gathering, and bake sale since, and as it turned out they were both really quite funny. Ridiculously funny, actually. Tugger and Misto hit it right off. Their chemistry in a scene together was almost blinding at points, and Tugger constantly bringing up Mistoffelees and trying to invite him places became sort of a running joke with the closer net of friends. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Munkustrap leaned back in his chair. “I’m surprised you didn’t suggest them sooner,” he teased, “why don’t you ask them if they’re free?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once the list was complete, and Tugger and Munk had received seven enthusiastic “yes”s, they were soon packing their bags for the long weekend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The weeks following up to the event flew by, and before anyone knew it they were divvying up who would be going in which car, with Munk driving one and Demeter driving the other. AKA, the two most responsible of the friend group behind the wheel. Bombalurina had called shotgun in a car; she didn’t exactly care which. It soon became apparent that someone was going to have to take a middle seat, and Mungojerrie happened to fail the nose call because he was staring at a caterpillar he spotted on a leaf nearby. Fortunately for him, though, Victoria happily volunteered, which prompted Alonzo and Rumpleteazer to volunteer to sit next to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Upon being relieved of middle seat curse, Mungojerrie quickly called shotgun for the other car, and Tugger said the F-word out loud. The final run down was Teazer, Alonzo, Victoria, and Bomba in one car, and Jerrie, Tugger, and Misto in the other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t make me drive the himbo car,” Demeter quietly begged Munkustrap, and he reluctantly obliged. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone piled in for the two hour trip. Bombalurina had spent the days prior burning CDs with all of her and Demeter’s favorite songs, much to Demeter’s absolute delight. The girls barely stopped singing the entire car trip, from show tunes, to Lizzo, to The Beatles, to ‘Kokomo’, which was then played two more times because it was a bop, and, of course, the passionate love ballads. The back seats joined in for the most part, but ultimately had a slightly different vibe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, Victoria, do you like the beach?” Alonzo had his arm around the back of Victoria’s chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love it! It’s been a little while since I went, though,” she responded with a certain sweetness in her voice, fiddling with her knee-length blush pink skirt absent-mindedly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh I love the beach too!” Rumpleteazer joined in. “You’ll </span>
  <em>
    <span>love</span>
  </em>
  <span> this place, it’s so awesome.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh!” Victoria was about to respond further when Alonzo piped up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, you definitely will. Victoria Grove has an amazing fudge shop.” He shot her a sly smile. “I could buy you some when we go, if you wanted.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well that would be-” She was cut off again, but this time by Rumpleteazer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well there’s also a great pizza place on the boardwalk and we could definitely go there!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well thank y</span>
  <span>—</span>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you like ferris wheels? They have one! We could go on it together!” Teazer asked excitedly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s a haunted house too, but don’t worry, I can hold your hand if you get scared,” Alonzo continued to try and act suave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Victoria didn’t have time to respond at all. Her head kept flipping back and forth between the two, trying to process all the ideas being thrown at her. To her luck a song everyone knew came up next on Bombalurina’s CDs. “Oh I love this one!” She cut them off to start singing with the girls in the front, leaning forward to make a point that she was exiting the conversation in the back. Bombalurina turned to dramatically sing with her as they passed a road sign that read “VICTORIA GROVE EXIT 3 MILES”.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Meanwhile, himbo car was having a grand old time. They’d just finished their Queen playlist off with Bohemian Rhapsody, with harmonies that definitely sounded absolutely shit but not one of them cared too much. Munkustrap turned the volume down slightly for a little more quiet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s all about the strategy, see?” Mistoffelees pointed to the Rubix Cube™ in Tugger’s hands. “Don’t try to use your brain ‘cause that’ll never work, you gotta pick a color and follow the turning patterns, see?” They were both leaning slightly into the middle seat so they could have their hands on the rubix cube at the same time. Mistoffelees helped Tugger turn the sides, counting as they did. Magically, the color ended up exactly where Tugger wanted it. “And presto.” Misto’s grin was smug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Holy shit.” He stared at it in awe. “This is the most success I’ve ever had with a Rubix Cube™.” He handed it back to Mistoffelees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Glad I could help.” Misto winked, going back to solving it himself. Tugger watched his little hands twist the cube into its place in just a few minutes. When it was done, Misto grinned and passed it back to Tugger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You amaze me…” Tugger said with wide eyes, which prompted a small eye roll from Mistoffelees. Tugger then messed the Rubix Cube™ back up and passed it over again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh shit, Phillip —” Mungojerrie mumbled from the front seat. He bent over to search the floor as if he’d dropped something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Munkustrap kept glancing over to try and see what it was but couldn’t, as looking away from the road for too long freaked him out. He cleared his throat. “Mungo?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ya.” Mungojerrie didn’t even look up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Whatcha lookin’ for there, bud?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uhuh…” He kept searching the floor and Munkustrap took a deep breath in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mungojerrie AnyDots, did you happen to bring the caterpillar that I told you not to bring, hide it from me for the last hour and forty-five, and then proceed to drop it under my passenger seat?” He kept a steady hand on the wheel, and Mungojerrie slowly looked up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are the chances you’ll believe me if I say no?” he asked slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Roughly zero.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then no.” He went back to searching.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In absolutely no time they could see the ocean, and Munkustrap rolled down all the windows to let the salty air through the car. Mistoffelees was left mesmerized, staring at the passing streets, and soon enough they pulled up to the house with Demeter pulling up shortly after. Mungojerrie practically leaped out of the car, going straight to the house window to try and crank it open. To no avail, though. Much to Mungojerrie’s disappointment, it was locked. The clapping of Mungojerrie’s asscheeks did nothing to get the window open, and he cried.  Munkustrap rolled up the car windows, turned the engine off, and took his keys to the front door of the house as the others started to unpack the cars.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Victoria stretched once she had crawled her way out of the middle seat and then she practically jumped with joy. “I’m so excited!” It was almost a squeal. “I know I’ve said it a billion times, but thank you so much for inviting us.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Munkustrap jammed the keys in the door. “Oh, no problem at all!” He wiggled the handle and gave the door a hard shove. “Tugger’s idea, actually.” He shot a smile in Victoria’s direction and gave the door one more body slam. With that, it opened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Victoria shot her hands up in the air, ran to Tugger, and gave him a very tight hug. “Oh, you big sweetheart! Thank you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tugger chuckled and hugged her back and then they both let go. “Don’t get too hasty, you haven’t seen the sleeping arrangements yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bombalurina snorted in laughter, overhearing their conversation. “I almost forgot we have to set it up again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Set what up?” Victoria asked them both.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s three rooms and nine of us, so we usually roll the mattresses downstairs and make a sort of communal sleeping area in front of the TV,” Bomba explained. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Last year we turned it into a blanket fort, but we’re not doing that again because the corner fell and almost suffocated Jerrie.” Tugger motioned over to the idiot in question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But,” Munkustrap butted in on his way by, “if anyone is uncomfortable sleeping in the living room, I can set up a bed upstairs.” He started pulling things out of the car. “Come on, help me unpack.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Victoria picked up a couple of bags. “Oh, don’t worry! I’m totally cool with a sleeping pile, it sounds like so much fun!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took them roughly half an hour to get everything configured, and then a good while more to toss the mattresses into the living room and set up the sheets and blankets. Tugger caught Mistoffelees staring intently out the window. He snuck over to stand with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beach is a short walk that way.” He gestured left down the street.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mistoffelees grinned. “I’ll race you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They looked at each other for a moment, then back at everyone else talking, and then they sprinted out the door.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Junkyard</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>TW: The second half of this chapter features the characters consuming alcohol in a party setting. No body goes overboard or get's hurt, they just all get drunk</p><p>Also! This chapter has a lot of song references, which I don't usually like doing because I know it's frustrating to read something that includes a lot of songs you might not necessarily know, but this chapter features a karaoke section so it was a little too hard to avoid. Apologies in advanced! All the song names and links to them are in the end notes &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The Junkyard Arcade was probably the most successful boardwalk attraction when it came to giving small children seizures and also making Demeter run out of alcoholic disinfectant wipes. After much deliberation, the group decided this would be their first destination for the Thursday evening that they had arrived in Victoria Grove. This decision was based partly on the thought that the arcade would be a little too busy on the Friday and Saturday nights, and partly on the fact that Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer weren’t going to shut up about it until everyone went.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thus, everyone arrived at the festering chaos that was The Junkyard. Even though the front was widely open to the sunny boardwalk, once you went inside the world was dark, with only the bright flashing lights of the games to guide your step. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer looked way too excited for the place. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You take right,” Teazer said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You take left,” Mungojerrie replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll meet you at skeeball!” The two high fived each other and went running. It had become a tradition for them to hit up every single machine available, and then they’d spend the rest of the night at skeeball. They had discovered that it gave you the most tickets if you were cool and had good hand-eye coordination, which Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer happened to have after a childhood of throwing rocks at abandoned houses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Demeter threw her arms around Munkustrap and Bombalurina, who were both taller than her so she had to go on her tiptoes. She was also wearing gloves because of her thing about germs. “Ready for the annual DDR competition?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you mean the highlight of my summer?” Bombalurina smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s do this.” Munkustrap turned to the remaining four. “We’ll catch up after!” The three of them practically skipped into the depths of The Junkyard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alonzo, Tugger, Mistoffelees, and Victoria were standing in the entrance looking around at the various things they could do when Victoria spotted a racing game. It was only for two players, so they decided to team up and do two rounds. Victoria and Mistoffelees vs. Tugger and Alonzo. When it came down to who should drive first, Alonzo was pretty enthusiastic to go.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I dominated Chuck E Cheese as a kid, these guys are going down.” Alonzo cracked his knuckles, but then winced a little because one of the cracks hurt more than he expected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You wanna drive first, Tori? I don’t mind.” Mistoffelees asked since Victoria was looking particularly excited to race.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure!” She sat in the driving seat and Alonzo followed suit, with Mistoffelees and Tugger standing to the side or their respective cars. They picked their characters and car models, and some lady in a bikini waved a flag on the screen. With that, the race began. Alonzo and Victoria stomped on the pedals, and the little animated cars zoomed down the track. There were some other NPCs (non-playable cars) in the game, but Alonzo and Victoria had mostly left them to dust. Sharp turns and lots of bumping into each other ensued, with Mistoffelees and Tugger being number one hype men on the sidelines. The two of them crossed the finish line for the first time in the three lap race; that was when Alonzo took a turn too fast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How are you upside down!?” Tugger almost ripped his hair out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know! I flipped! Fuck, I don’t know how!” Alonzo was pressing every button he could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay move over.” Tugger squished his butt in the seat, making Alonzo move out of necessity since it was too small for both of them. Then Tugger tried hitting every button Alonzo just hit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I did that already! Oh my God.” Alonzo tried taking the wheel back but Tugger kept batting him out of the way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mistoffelees was holding back laughter watching them both flail as the upside down car on the screen stayed put, clipping in and out of the ground just slightly. It’s front wheels kept turning left and right with every sad attempt to flip it back over. Victoria just kept driving. “Well I’m just loving this peaceful drive through the countryside, aren’t you, Misto?” she teased. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you bet.” Mistoffelees leaned on the back of Victoria’s driving seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After Victoria’s clear win, it was Tugger and Mistoffelees’ turn to take the wheels. Not off to a great start for Misto when he slammed on the reverse pedal instead of the acceleration.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck! Where’s the go button—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The </span>
  <em>
    <span>go button</span>
  </em>
  <span>!?” Tugger’s grip on the wheel tightened as he tried not to die laughing at Misto’s quick panic to find the right pedal. He finally figured it out but he was dead last, at least for the first lap. He managed to catch up to Tugger during lap two because Tugger wasn’t turning the wheel enough — likely out of fear of flipping over — and he was constantly bumping into the railing which slowed him down significantly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alonzo was watching from the sidelines when he felt someone jab his sides and immediately squeaked and batted the person away. When he turned, he found that Munkustrap had managed to sneak up and taze him for the billionth time in their years-long friendship. Munkustrap looked pleased with himself and Alonzo just scowled. “I thought you were playing DDR?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh I lost so fast,” Munk explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mistoffelees raised an eyebrow, but didn’t look away from the racing screen. “How do you </span>
  <em>
    <span>lose</span>
  </em>
  <span> DDR?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not lost the game, per se, Rina and Deme just did better than me in our tournament so I came to find you guys.” He leaned up on Tugger’s chair and watched the car bounce around the screen for a little bit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You missed it,” Tugger said. “Alonzo’s dumb ass managed to flip the car over and Victoria totally smoked him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Munkustrap turned to Alonzo with an amused grin. “For real?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> my fault,” he growled back, and took Munkustrap by the wrist. “Come play air hockey with me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Munkustrap didn’t say no, and the two of them left for the air hockey table. Not long after, the race came to an end. Victoria was way too enthusiastic for the results, but it was nice to hear her support.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t believe you beat me with that start.” Tugger swung his legs around to face Mistoffelees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tugger, we came twelfth and thirteenth.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you still beat me!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After spending a moment deliberating what to do next, Victoria decided she’d go see what games Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer had gotten up to, and Tugger and Misto decided they’d go find Bombalurina and Demeter. The girls hadn’t left Dance Dance Revolution all night, and when the boys arrived they were dancing to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper. Fitting. They welcomed Tugger and Misto over, though, and even played a couple rounds with them two at a time since there was only space for two to play (or one person on both floors if you’re ballsy). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love Dance Dance Revolution, because you can be a professional ballerina and still suck at this,” Demeter laughed, and a professional ballerina she was, practically. She’d been doing ballet her whole life up until college.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No need to flex on us like that.” Bombalurina leaned against the bar on the machine. “And you don’t suck at it. You’re not Mungojerrie, but you don’t suck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mungojerrie?” Mistoffelees inquired.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ten years of tap,” Tugger responded, and then he jumped up onto the machine to put a song in, motioning Misto to join him. The girls left to get drinks since they were pretty worn out, promising to be back soon. Misto and Tugger tapped through the songs, honestly not recognising a single one. That’s when they came across La Bamba and decided that it would suffice. To spice things up a bit they both set it to advanced difficulty and waited with bated breath for the song to start.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t take them too long to realize that they both sucked way worse than they initially realized. The arrows were coming way too fast for either of them to keep up or even comprehend what was going on, and within seconds the boys were stomping around frantically as the screens lit up with “MISSED”s and “ALMOST”s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“God!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shit!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why’d we do this!?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were practically falling over each other, abs hurting from laughing so hard, and then in a split second Tugger was on the floor with tears in his eyes, having given up all together and practically pissing himself at how badly they were doing. If Mungojerrie were here he’d destroy them. Mistoffelees was still trying though, finding it hard to breathe himself after seeing Tugger go down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Keep going, man, we got this!” Mistoffelees cackled, trying his best.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here, here.” Tugger reached over, still planted firmly on his ass and breathing hard, “I got the left arrow, you get the other three, I got this one.” He was on his hands and knees frantically smacking the left arrow with his fist every time it showed up on the screen. Mistoffelees could barely get the other three as he was doubling over so hard at the sight of Tugger pummeling the left arrow so enthusiastically. They were a cackling mess. After what felt like way more than four minutes, the song finally ended, and Mistoffelees fell into the bar behind him. He used it as a support for standing while he tried to catch his breath. Tugger managed to pull himself up with the help of the other bar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two of them finally calmed a little, catching some air in their lungs. They looked at each other with red faces, which prompted another exhausted laugh out of the two of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My cheeks hurt.” Misto rubbed his face with his hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My abs hurt.” Tugger took another breath and they looked at each other again. They got off the machine and crashed into the wall, still smiling uncontrollably and glancing at each other in little fits of giggles for a small while.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just as they were calming down, their eyes met and Tugger felt something rush in him. Suddenly his thoughts needed to spill.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Misto, I—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was interrupted, however, when Rumpleteazer came toppling into them. “Guys!” She shouted. She was panting; her face was red. “How many tickets do you have?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mistoffelees pulled his out of his pocket. “I’m not sure, I haven’t counted—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rumpleteazer grabbed him by the shoulders, her own tickets almost whipping him in the face. “If we pool our tickets together we might have enough for the giant llama!” She pointed over to the ticket exchange, a booth full of useless garbage toys, and hanging from the ceiling was indeed a giant plush llama.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Holy shit,” Mistoffelees whispered. “Take ‘em.” He held the tickets out for Rumpleteazer and she gladly took them off his hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re gonna get that llama!” she yelled to Victoria, who was standing near the skeeball.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes! You beautiful bastard!” she yelled back with equal enthusiasm, and not much regard for the other people in the arcade that night. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mistoffelees chuckled, then turned back to Tugger. “What were you going to say?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The moment was kind of… ruined. “Wanna check out skeeball?” He motioned over to the rest of the gang, who had ended up there over the course of the night. Mistoffelees nodded with a smile and they wandered over together.</span>
</p><hr/><p>
  <span>After spending way too much money on skeeball, Victoria and Rumpleteazer were curled up happily chatting away on the couch with their new plush llama. Everyone had been debating names for it during the walk back to the house, a big contender being Jellyllama after the Professor Jellylorum that most of them had had classes with. Mungojerrie and Mistoffelees were playing Uno at the dining table and Bombalurina was scrolling through her phone on the other couch by the window. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first floor of the house was a small living room connected to the dining room and kitchen. When they had arrived, they pushed the two couches back toward the back wall and front windows, creating enough space for the mattresses and blanket pile. The coffee table had been shoved against the wall too. Their TV was a little too small for movie nights, so Munkustrap and Tugger would always take the painting off of the biggest wall and set up their old projector on the opposite side of the room. That way it was easy for everyone to see the screen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just as Tugger was finished setting up the projector on the shelf, Munkustrap body slammed the front door open. “We’re back!” he announced. He was holding a case of ciders, and Demeter and Alonzo were behind him carrying various other bags.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t let the bugs in.” Bombalurina didn’t move to help, but she hated when the door was left open too long at night. Flies and mosquitoes were her least favorite things, and they came swarming during the summer if you weren’t careful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Alonzo pushed the door close and then had to lean against it for it to shut fully. The three of them kicked their shoes off and trampled over the mattresses to drop the bags down on the table, making Mungojerrie and Mistoffelees move their game over. “Alrighty.” Munkustrap started unpacking the bags. “We got ciders, Mike’s Hard—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh hell yeah, more like </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m</span>
  </em>
  <span> hard! … At the mention of Mikes!” Rumpleteazer shot over some finger guns, to which Munkustrap gave a concerned look and then ignored them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Blueberry svedka.” He started handing the bottle to Demeter. “I don’t know how you drink that, love.” Demeter took the bottle carefully and gave a mischievous grin. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Regular</span>
  </em>
  <span> vodka for everyone else, and uh, Fireball and lemonade.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck yeah!” Tugger hopped over the couch to grab the Fireball. “Misto, you have to try this, you’re gonna love it.” He turned to Mistoffelees to see him and Mungojerrie stacking +4s on each other, before Mungojerrie finally ran out and drew around twenty cards through tears. Mistoffelees was sporting the most devilish smile. “Misto?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He finally looked over at Tugger. “Oh, yeah! I totally will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not too much time passed before the first shots were poured out. They each stood around the dining table with the glasses in hand, said cheers, and down the hatch it went. The taste made Mistoffelees shudder as it went down his throat, and that was when Alonzo hit play on the portable speaker and the party started.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This was a familiar scene for everyone here. The improv club threw dorm parties all the time, and sometimes Munkustrap would even let everyone come to his apartment. Mistoffelees had been to a frat party before, too. He had fun, but he ultimately preferred these little parties with his friends. Victoria was a natural party-goer, though, and she was already jumping on the mattresses with Rumpleteazer. Whenever Victoria got a little tipsy, her flirtatious side came out, so Mistoffelees was definitely keen to see how the night would go. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another shot in and Bombalurina and Demeter were starting to look like something out of Dirty Dancing. Mistoffelees, Munkustrap, Tugger, and Alonzo had made their own little circle. That was when <em>Danza Kuduro</em> came on the playlist, and Alonzo jumped up onto the coffee table. He knew </span>
  <em>
    <span>every</span>
  </em>
  <span> word (it probably helped that he was a native Spanish speaker). The others were hyping him up though, and after the song Munkustrap turned down the music all together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shushed the protests. “Guys, guys, you know what it’s time for?” He almost stumbled over a pillow before he said the next thing. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Karaoke</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p><span>Unanimous agreement ensued, and suddenly Tugger was in charge of pulling up the videos for the projector. The night spun forward. Between ABBA, Elton John, Disney medleys, and Tugger and Mistoffelees’ very dramatic rendition of </span><em><span>Don’t You Want Me</span></em> <span>by the Human League, certain members of the group were finding it particularly hard to stand. For example, absolutely no one had been paying attention to how much of the blueberry stuff Demeter had downed. Bombalurina being a little more stable, but not too far behind.</span></p><p>
  <span>“Amarillo!” Bombalurina kept yelling from her corner of the couch, with Demeter giggling and shushing her and giggling some more. “Amarillo…!” Bombalurina continued to stage whisper, reaching over to poke Munkustrap’s head as Demeter tried but failed to pull her back. To those who’d seen them do karaoke before, it was pretty clear what Bombalurina was referring to. </span>
  <em>
    <span>IS THIS THE WAY TO AMARILLO</span>
  </em>
  <span> by Tony Christie was one of Munkustrap’s go to karaoke songs, and Bombalurina’s favorite. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, fine!” Munkustrap tipped his head back to look at them, happening to fall backward into Bomba’s knees when he leaned. “I’ll do it, but you guys have to sing back up.” He reached his hand up to point at them, trying his best to boop their noses. Demeter even leaned down a bit to help him get hers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course</span>
  </em>
  <span> we will!” Bombalurina kissed his forehead. “Right, Deme?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Demeter giggled every time she tried to speak, which made Bombalurina giggle and nod along whenever she opened her mouth to say something. Finally she took a deep breath and nodded very seriously. “Yes, yes, we will sing backup. Mhm.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maestro, Amarillo please!” Munkustrap called to Tugger, who was leaning over the back of the couch to get to the laptop next to the projector on the shelf. He pulled up a karaoke youtube video as Munkustrap managed to sit up. “Where’s my cowboy hat?” he asked, looking around the room. Mistoffelees immediately burst out laughing at the mention of a cowboy hat being involved in whatever was going to happen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The </span>
  <em>
    <span>hat</span>
  </em>
  <span> pile, dumbass,” Tugger slurred.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll get it!” Demeter almost fell over the side of the couch when she crawled over Bombalurina to get to the coat closet by the front door. After rummaging for a second, she found it, threw it, and then covered her mouth and apologized when she saw it hit Mungojerrie in the head. “Sorry!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not cowboy man…” Mungojerrie stared at the hat next to him. Munkustrap swiped the hat and plopped it on his head. He stood in front of the coffee table in a silk robe and boxer shorts, and the addition of the hat really made his outfit pop. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ready, ladies?” After a thumbs up and an enthusiastic yes, Demeter dived back on top of Bombalurina. “Hit it, Tugger!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tugger hit play, and Bombalurina was already singing backup. Demeter forgot that their part started pretty instantaneously. “Oh shit!” She was in fits of giggles, lying on her stomach over Bombalurina who was taking her “Shalala”s </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> seriously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get your shit together, Demeter.” She poked the girl’s sides, only half seriously scolding her, and Demeter tried to sit up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, ah! Okay, hold on, give me a second.” Demeter rolled over onto the mattress on the floor, managing to join in for the back up singing.</span>
</p><p><span>Munkustrap was just beaming over at them, getting ready for his part to start. The empty cider bottle in his hand became a microphone and his dramatic side came out. “</span><em><span>When the day is dawning… On a Texas Sunday morning…”</span></em> <span>he sang surprisingly on key for someone on that level of drunk. Which, to say, actually wasn’t as drunk as some of the others in the room. It was just drunker than Mistoffelees had ever seen him. Whenever they’d had parties at college Munkustrap never let himself go too far. Someone always had to be the responsible one, and somehow Munk always fell into that role. Being off campus in a house on the shore felt like a much safer place to let loose. The RAs certainly weren’t going to be knocking on any doors anytime soon; it was nice to see Munkustrap enjoy himself like this.</span></p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t long before Bombalurina and Demeter had made it up to the front of the room with him and the three of them were dancing side by side. During the lines about “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Sweet Marie</span>
  </em>
  <span>”, Munkustrap made sure to give the girls some special attention. Demeter and Bombalurina made pretty good backup dancers too and for the second chorus, Munkustrap had jumped up onto the coffee table. The lyrics were now being projected onto his body, but it’s not like he needed to see them anyway. This was a song that the three of them knew well. The rest of the gang were happily clapping along to the upbeat tune. When the song faded out, Munkustrap threw his cowboy hat into the “audience”. It hit the wall and then fell on the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cheering, laughing, and Demeter falling face first onto the mattress followed. Mistoffelees leaned over to Tugger (perhaps leaning </span>
  <em>
    <span>on</span>
  </em>
  <span> him a little more than he intended). “They make a good team, huh.” He smiled up at him and Tugger wrapped an arm around Mistoffelees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Three is a magic number,” he replied. Suddenly, Mistoffelees sat up with his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth gawking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity</span>
  </em>
  <span>…” he sang, a little unsure, perhaps, if that was what Tugger had been referring to in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>You get three… As a magic number!</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Tugger sang back, making Mistoffelees double over laughing. With that, they were off, drunkenly singing the silly children’s song about magic numbers. While they needed no karaoke track, it became pretty clear soon that they needed the lyrics. Nethertheless, they persisted through the song, stumbling over each other’s words and trying their best to remember what the heck they were even singing. At that point they were fully facing each other. Mistoffelees had a hand on Tugger’s shoulder, and Tugger’s was resting on Mistoffelees knee. At some point during all the numbers, they sort of lost the groove.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Three times wait, is, fuck, what, hold on.” Tugger stared out into space, trying to get his brain to work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you were right I think.” Mistoffelees could barely speak through laughing. The two of them eventually sunk into the couch together, giggling at the sight of each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mungojerrie rose from the furthest couch. “It’s time,” he said quite cryptically, then he scrambled his way over to the laptop to type in his signature song. After pressing play, he dramatically turned to the rest of the group. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Let’s go girls.”</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Immediately, all the girls were screaming and whistling. Mungojerrie stood in the center of the mattresses, gesturing the other’s up to come dance and sing to </span>
  <em>
    <span>Man! I Feel Like a Woman!</span>
  </em>
  <span> By Shania Twain with him. Victoria, Bombalurina, Demeter, and Rumpleteazer joined in on the choruses, and the five of them jumped around to their anthem. Mistoffelees dragged Tugger up after that, and Alonzo and Munkustrap followed suit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At about two in the morning people started to fizzle out. Mistoffelees had actually knocked out on the couch about an hour before everyone else had, and out of respect the others decided to quiet the party down and watch movies. One by one the gang started dropping off, and eventually the projector was turned off altogether.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tugger was lying on his back awake but drowsy. When he looked up he could see Mistoffelees’ hand hanging lazily off the couch above him. The room was quiet, only steady breathing, the occasional shuffle, and Rumpleteazer’s light snoring to be heard. Mungojerrie was still awake, though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey Tugger,” Mungojerrie spoke quietly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Beese Chorger.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRr5EasAq84)<br/>La Bamba - Ritchie Valens (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Coy8Hoa1DNw)<br/>Danza Kuduro - Don Omar (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWRcqF4FNqg)<br/>Don't You Want Me - The Human League (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EhG9giKZvo)<br/>Is This The Way To Amarillo - Tony Christie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBDbUjUH5So)<br/>Three is a Magic Number - Blind Melon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6to8QyaA1Y)<br/>Man! I Feel Like a Woman! - Shania Twain (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7auzP9RhCY)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Some Kind of Crazy Wizard</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tugger opened his eyes slowly, only just starting to comprehend his surroundings. He was on one of the mattresses and he was a little chilly. He turned his head slightly to the left to see Mungojerrie wrapped up in two blankets like a messy burrito. Ah, that explains that. When he turned his head to the right he saw two figures at the dining table speaking in hushed tones. “What’s poppin’?” he asked, a little too loud.</p><p>Demeter and Mistoffelees looked over to the sleeping pile and shushed him. “We’re trying to be quiet, dumbass.” Demeter wrinkled her nose, like she does when she’s only very slightly annoyed, taking another spoonful of yoghurt.</p><p>“Oh, sorry,” Tugger whispered. “What time is it?”</p><p>“Nine-thirty,” Mistoffelees answered.</p><p>“What the fuck, why am I awake?” Tugger rubbed his face, and Demeter and Mistoffelees giggled at the dining table. </p><p>“You can go back to sleep if you want.” Mistoffelees offered. It was a tempting thought, but there’d be no point with the blanket gone. Plus, he was already awake and the hunger was taking over.</p><p>Tugger sat up, stretched, cracked his neck, and then looked back over at Demeter and Mistoffelees. “Either of you seen my shirt?” he asked them. Mistoffelees averted his gaze, and Demeter was covering her mouth to prevent the laugh from escaping. She pointed at Alonzo discreetly, who was curled up near Tugger’s feet, half on the mattress and half off. He was also wearing Tugger’s shirt. Tugger pushed him in the chest with his foot. “Whore.”</p><p>Alonzo didn’t even open his eyes when he spoke. “I was cold.”</p><p>“Well that’s what you get for sleeping on the floor.” Tugger swung his legs off the mattress and stood, ignoring the fact that Demeter and Mistoffelees were still giggling with each other. They’d likely been gossiping all morning, given that they were the first to wake up. “I’m gonna go get a shower,” Tugger mumbled, then headed upstairs.</p><p>Out of everyone, Mungojerrie was the last to rise. By that point, no one was really worried about staying quiet, which sort of forced Mungojerrie to emerge from his clusterfuck of stolen comforters. Tugger had just finished tossing the last pancake onto the pancake plate when he turned off the stove, and the majority of the group was eating from the stack (except for Victoria, who was chasing Rumpleteazer around the living room with a hairbrush).</p><p>The group spent the rest of their morning slowly getting ready to face the day. They planned to spend it at the boardwalk, which was a little further down the shore and a bit of a longer walk through the town. The part of the beach that was closest to their house had no boardwalk; there was just a small trail from the street to the sand and then you could see the open ocean. The boardwalk, while also being home to The Junkyard arcade, had plenty of attractions, stores, games, and restaurants. It was a bit of a hub for Victoria Grove. With the haunted house, the mirror maze, pirate-themed mini golf, and the ferris wheel, you could easily spend an entire afternoon and evening there. Which is exactly what the gang was planning to do.</p><p>It was around midday when they left, deciding to take cars this time to make the commute much shorter. The boardwalk was fairly busy by the time they got there, so they split up into smaller groups, with Demeter, Bombalurina, Rumpleteazer, and Victoria heading toward the mirror maze. After about thirty seconds of being inside the maze, Rumpleteazer was nowhere to be found, Victoria went to look for her, and Demeter was telling Bombalurina about her strategy to get through it.</p><p>“Okay, if I calculate the angles of the mirrors then I can successfully find the way out.” Demeter pointed at the mirrors as she spoke. “That one reflects to there, then that one reflects to this one, and this one reflects on that, so the exit must be this way.” She then proceeded to walk in her calculated direction, almost immediately smacking face first into one of the mirrors. Bombalurina snorted in laughter as Demeter rubbed her nose and the plastic gloves they’d all been forced to wear so the mirrors didn’t get fingerprints on them crinkled.</p><p>“I wish Mistoffelees could’ve seen that, I’m totally telling him about it later.” Bombalurina put a hand on Demeter’s shoulder for support while she laughed. Mistoffelees was the only physics major in their friend group, and probably would’ve gotten a kick out of Demeter’s mirror calculations.</p><p>“Teazer!” Victoria called through the maze.</p><p>“Victoria!” Teazer called back. The voice wasn’t even that far away, that’s when Rumpleteazer spotted Victoria looking around confused. “Wait right there! I see you!” she called out excitedly and ran, shouldering right into a mirror. “Fuck, hold on, there you are!” She turned and smacked right into another mirror. “Fuck, wait, I’m coming!” </p><p>Victoria was cackling away when suddenly Rumpleteazer slammed straight into her. “Slow down, Teaz! You’re gonna break something!” She was still laughing, but Rumpleteazer was just stoked she didn’t run into another mirror.</p><p>Meanwhile, the boys were quite aggressively trying to run each other over with bumper cars. Over the course of the day, the groups met up, split off into different little groups for a bit, then met up again, and split off once more as they saw fit. The others had gone who knows where, and Tugger and Mistoffelees happened to be the last ones left at the pizza place that they all stopped at. They were deliberating on what to do when they decided to hit up some of the carnival games near the ferris wheel. A little competition never hurt anyone, so first to win something would get bragging rights for the rest of the night. </p><p>“Rubber duck fishing?” Tugger suggested.</p><p>“Too easy,” Mistoffelees replied while they walked past it. “Demeter got, like, twenty of them and she didn’t even get to keep them, she just got candy out of it.”</p><p>“Yikes, okay. Ring toss?”</p><p>“Maybe…” Mistoffelees scanned the games available. “Oh, what about the balloon popping one?” Tugger immediately tensed up at the mention of balloons, and when he realized they were standing right next to the game in question, he grabbed Mistoffelees’ hand and speed-walked past.</p><p>“Look! They have a water gun one!” Changing the topic, and trying to sound excited about water guns enough to not cause any suspicion about him acting weird just then, Tugger pointed at the game. It had two water guns connected to the table, and the aim of the game was to knock down the little spaceships.</p><p>“Oh hell yeah, let’s do it!” They arrived at the counter, put their money forward, and armed themselves. As fun as the game was, it ended in a tie. They each got to pick out of the prize bucket, which consisted solely of pink monkey-sloth looking plush toy things with noodly arms and legs and cute little faces.</p><p>“What now?” Tugger asked.</p><p>“I guess we both get bragging rights.” Mistoffelees made his monkey-sloth hit the dab. “I’m naming him Stinky.”</p><p>“Mine’s called Pacal, they’re nonbinary.”</p><p>“I love that. Check this out.” Mistoffelees put the monkey-sloth’s faces together and made a kissy noise.</p><p>“They’re in love… epic.”</p><p>“Isn’t it?”</p><p>Tugger’s ass buzzed and he pulled out his phone to check it. “Oh, the others are at the haunted house, wanna head down there?”</p><p>“Yeah, sounds dope.” Mistoffelees was playing with Stinky’s arms, waving them about and what not.</p><p>By the time they reached the haunted house, the rest of the gang were already waiting for them. The worker gave them the run down of the rules. There were no flashlights allowed, but you could use your phone for other things if you wanted to. You really didn’t really need to, though. The nine of them shuffled into the hallway and the door closed behind them. </p><p>It took a while for their eyes to adjust to the dark. Bombalurina very quickly grew tired of the group moving at snail's pace and pushed her way to the front to lead the pack, dragging Munkustrap by the arm. Tugger was pushing the group from the back so that no one got left behind anytime soon, with Mistoffelees walking quietly next to him. The eerie silence was the scariest part so far. Victoria had her phone out, presumably filming the whole thing. </p><p>She noticed Alonzo was looking a little worried. “I can hold your hand if you get scared,” she teazed. Alonzo just scoffed in return.</p><p>“I’m not gonna get scared,” he stated, but his scream when Rumpleteazer grabbed his ankle spoke otherwise. </p><p>After a whole hallway of nothing, they reached a corner, expecting a jumpscare. Nothing came though, and Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer started to get ballsy.</p><p>“What’s wrong, guys?” Rumpleteazer called out into the next hallway.</p><p>“You don’t wanna piece of this? Huh?” Mungojerrie was flexing, and the two of them started sauntering down the hall past Bombalurina.</p><p>“Come at us, motherfu—” Just then, two hands came out of the wall and lunged at Rumpleteazer. She screamed, which made Mungojerrie scream, which made some of the other’s scream, and suddenly the group was running through the hall. The antics didn’t stop after that. It was jumpscare after jumpscare, butcher’s knives, zombies, and cursed dolls. </p><p>“I think it wants a kiss.” Tugger pointed at the doll in question, nudging Misto over.</p><p>“It can fucking die for all I care,” Mistoffelees responded, and as if on queue, the doll sat up out of its bed and Misto made a run for it.</p><p>Alonzo almost punched an actor in the clown hallway, and Mungojerrie army-crawled through the spider’s den. For the most part, Demeter was screaming then laughing then screaming again. Bombalurina even faulted at one point, and Victoria was getting it all on video, completely unphased by the haunted house itself.</p><p>They reached a room that was intended to make groups split up, but the nine of them had managed to make a daisy chain of hand holding to get through it despite all the obstacles. It almost worked. The first half of them made it out alive and had to wait for the others on the other side. When the nine of them finally stumbled out of the haunted house after being chased by a “serial killer”, they were all laughing and trying to catch their breath.</p><p>“Alright, guys.” Munkustrap stretched. “What do you want to do next?”</p><p>Mistoffelees was looking at a bulletin board when he piped up. “Oh check it out, they’re gonna do fireworks at nine tonight!”</p><p>“What? Why?” Tugger interjected.</p><p>“Doesn’t say, just says ‘Firework Show Friday 12th 9pm’.” Mistoffelees read off the sign.</p><p>“Someone probably sponsored them,” Munkustrap suggested.</p><p>Victoria gasped with delight and grabbed Munk’s arm. “Oh, we should stay for the fireworks! That’d be so fun!” she squealed. The others audibly agreed with her, and Mistoffelees was visibly excited too. Munkustrap gave Tugger a quick look.</p><p>Tugger shoved his hands in his pockets, deciding to speak before Munkustrap got a chance to. “Well, you guys have fun, but I think I’m going to head back actually.”</p><p>Victoria’s face fell. “Aw, how come? Are you not feeling well?”</p><p>“No, I’m fine, seriously.” He forced a laugh. “Really tired, I guess, not a lot of sleep last night and a hectic day will do that to you.”</p><p>“Well it’s just fireworks, you can practically nap while they’re going on.” If Victoria had a fault it was probably that she was a little too pushy from time to time, but it came from a good place. “Come on, it’ll be fun!” She smiled, but Mistoffelees moved to put an arm on her shoulder and pull her back a little.</p><p>“They’re not for another hour, why don’t we all get a drink?” he suggested, and it seemed to be a popular idea.</p><p>A little while later, Mistoffelees joined Tugger on a bench holding two lemonades. The breeze was getting slightly chilly now that the sun had started to recede. “Hey.” He gave Tugger a warm smile and passed one of the lemonades over. Tugger gladly took it</p><p>“Hey.” His voice lacked the energy it’d had earlier in the day, which made sense, it had been a pretty tiring day, and Tugger really didn’t get that much sleep the night before. There was a comfortable quietness between them until Mistoffelees spoke up.</p><p>“Do you wanna tell me what’s up?” he asked softly.</p><p>Tugger wasn’t quite sure what to say. “Why’d you ask?” He went with, trying to sound cool.</p><p>“Well, you wanna go back early, which isn’t that in character considering you’ve got the biggest fomo out of anyone I know. So I just wanted to check in and see if you were doing okay,” Misto explained. He was right, Tugger did have a pretty big fear of missing out.</p><p>“I’m fine, tired.” Tugger was gazing out into the ocean, and Mistoffelees didn’t buy it for a second. He put a couple things together in his brain and took an educated guess.</p><p>“It’s the fireworks, isn’t it?” It wasn’t much of a question.</p><p>How did he manage to hit the nail right on the head? Tugger gave up his ploy to seem cool. Him and Mistoffelees were good enough friends, and he knew Misto was an understanding person.</p><p>“They’re too loud,” he admitted a little quietly.</p><p>“Really?” Mistoffelees was a bit surprised by the answer, but he leaned forward a little to signal that he was paying attention.</p><p>“I’m not sure what it is.” Tugger decided to indulge him. “I’ve just always had a thing about loud noises. When I was a kid I couldn’t go to the movies because they were too loud. These days I’m better, like, continuous loud noise doesn’t bother me like it used to. I can do parties and clubs and it’s whatever. But the sudden loud noises still get me, and I guess that includes fireworks.” He took a small sip of his lemonade.</p><p>Another thing in Misto’s head clicked. “I guess you don’t like balloons either, then,” he said.</p><p>“I hate balloons,” Tugger confirmed, and it brought a smile to both of their faces. “Sorry about that, by the way.” Misto just shook his head, as if to say no apology necessary. “I like… quiet things.” He didn’t look at Mistoffelees when he said that. “I know you wouldn’t think it, but I do.” The waves gently hit the rocks underneath the pier, and the smell of the salt filled their noses. </p><p>Munkustrap certainly knew about Tugger’s noise phobia, as they’d grown up together and it’s not like he never tried to hide it as a kid. Bombalurina probably put the pieces together at some point, but they’d never talked about it. Tugger had always managed to get a good excuse for not seeing the fireworks, or he’d just stand at the back and cover his ears, hoping no one would notice.</p><p>“You could tell them, you know, it’s not like they’d judge you for it,” Mistoffelees reassured.</p><p>“Nah, I don’t care about that. I just know that if I tell them then they’ll all band together in some kind of attempt to support my struggle or whatever and refuse to enjoy themselves if I’m not there.” Mistoffelees laughed at that, because it was totally true. That’s exactly what everyone would do. “And I don’t wanna drag everyone away from a good time, I mean, you and Tori seemed excited,” Tugger added to his point. Mistoffelees pondered for a moment, then he had a thought.</p><p>“Hey, I want you to try something.” Mistoffelees pulled his bag over and started rummaging around in it. He pulled out some wired headphones and passed them to Tugger.</p><p>“Headphones?” Tugger questioned as he put the earbuds in his ears. Then, Mistoffelees pressed a button on the wire and all the ambient noise disappeared. The only thing Tugger could hear was Mistoffelees’ drowsy music playlist. He couldn’t even hear Misto at all when he saw his mouth move. “What?” Tugger accidentally yelled, which made Mistoffelees laugh. He took one of the earbuds out for him and tugger took out the other.</p><p>“They’re noise cancelling. Sometimes I get tired of people and this drowns them out, and well, I’d let you borrow them if you stayed for the fireworks.” His smile was so sweet and meaningful that Tugger could practically hear his heart thumping in his chest</p><p>He fiddled with the earbud in his hand, looking at Mistoffelees in a little bit of surprise. “I can’t thank you enough…” He managed to get out.</p><p>Mistoffelees averted his gaze, smiling slightly. “Don’t worry about it.” He shrugged it off. “But hey if you need to leave at any point during it…” Mistoffelees reached a hand out to hold Tugger’s gently. “I’d understand.”</p><p>The group settled down on the beach on various different towels, Mistoffelees and Tugger sharing their own. Mungojerrie had almost fallen asleep in Rumpleteazer’s lap, Munkustrap and Bombalurina were huddled around Demeter, and Alonzo and Victoria were trying to cover each other’s legs in sand. The fireworks were due to start in roughly five minutes, and Tugger couldn’t help but get a little nervous in case one of them went off earlier than expected. He resisted the urge to cover his ears while Mistoffelees fished out the headphones. “I got a little surprise,” Mistoffelees said, smiling while he searched through the pockets of his bag. </p><p>“What’s that?” Tugger tried not to sound too on edge. Mistoffelees dropped the noise-cancelling headphones in Tugger’s lap and then pulled out a second set of headphones and a splitter. Tugger raised an eyebrow. “You carry two sets around with you like that?”</p><p>“These are Victoria’s, all her stuff’s in here too, which is why it’s so hard to find anything. I brought the splitter in case she wanted in on my playlist in the car. Ended up not needing it then, but I’m glad I brought it! Here.” He took the splitter and plugged it into his phone, which gave him enough outlets for both sets of headphones. He plugged those in and they both stuck the buds in their ears. After the button on Tugger’s set was pressed, all he could hear was music.</p><p>Mistoffelees listened to a pretty random selection of things, Tugger had learned throughout their friendship. Misto also had a knack for knowing every song that ever came up in a social setting. If someone in the group was singing something, it was likely that Misto knew it too, which made improv scenes a little extra fun when he was involved. It was rare that Tugger ever got to sit and listen to Misto’s music preferences though, so he was soaking up every second of that first song. He didn’t recognize it, but he liked it. He couldn’t quite tell if it was because it was something from Mistoffelees’ playlist or if it was because the song was actually any good. What if this was Misto’s favorite song? Maybe it was just a random song he’d forgotten he ever downloaded and it happened to pop up when he hit shuffle. Either way, it was the only song that mattered to Tugger in that moment.</p><p>He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t even notice the first firework whizzing up into the night sky. They were being launched from boats further in the ocean so that folks could watch from the beach. When Tugger realized the display had started, he tense up by habit and his hands immediately went to his ears. The sudden movement made Mistoffelees jump a little. That’s when the firework exploded, and the only sound that had gotten past the music was a slight pop. Tugger’s face went from frightened, to surprised, to ecstatic in a matter of seconds, and he turned to look at Mistoffelees just in time to catch the concern in his eyes. When Mistoffelees saw the sight of Tugger’s smile, he couldn’t help but smile too. The headphones <em> worked </em>. </p><p>They turned back to watch the fireworks, coming in groups now and fizzling out over the bobbing waves. Mistoffelees gently rested his head on Tugger’s shoulder and gazed out into the night. He <em> loved </em> fireworks, always had. As a child, the noise never bothered him. Fireworks were like real life magic, and magic was Mistoffelees’ very favorite thing. The thought reminded him of a silly thing he used to do when he was a kid. He opened his phone, turned to the notes app, and typed. When he finished his thoughts, he showed it to Tugger.</p><p>
  <em> “When I was a kid I used to point at them just as they were about to explode and pretend I was some kind of crazy wizard that was causing them.” </em>
</p><p>Tugger laughed when he read it, and Mistoffelees put the phone back down to give him a good example. With every firework that came, Mistoffelees was shooting the sky with finger guns. The sight of it was so entertaining that Tugger decided to try it out himself, and it turned out to be just as fun as Mistoffelees made it out to be. They laughed at each other, realizing how silly they must look to anyone watching, but that didn’t matter too much. After some fun playing with magic, Mistoffelees settled back down into Tugger’s shoulder, and Tugger rested his head on top of Mistoffelees’ in turn. No one else seemed to notice that they were holding hands.</p>
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